Don't download that app: US presidential candidates will STALK you with it
Romney mobe application even requests permission to record audio ...
By John Leyden The Register
20 August 2012Security researchers have uncovered privacy shortcomings in the mobile applications offered by both the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns.
The campaign teams of the incumbent US President and his Republican challenger have each released apps for both iOS and Android, in good time for the election on November 6.
Experts at GFI Software looked at the Android versions of both apps, discovering both to be surprisingly invasive.
Obama for America and Mitt's VP request permissions, access to services and data and capabilities beyond their core mandate.
For example, each of the apps features the ability to cross-post on users' behalf and report back to base. One app even has a tool to encourage users to go canvassing on behalf of the candidate, which in GFI's test directed Obama supporters to an unsafe part of a US town - just north of downtown Clearwater, Florida.
Both Android apps slurp the details of users' contacts and log location data, as a rundown by GFI on both apps and the permissions they seek explains. The Romney app even requests permission to record audio for unspecified (and so-far unactivated) purposes.
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